House Rules
Character Generation
Attribute Rolling:
Attribute rolls are made and put into groups by number of dice rolled. The numbers rolled may then be arranged to taste within those groups. Talk to Splynncryth for details.
Physical Skills:
Physical skills my be chosen as Secondary Skills, in contrast to the rules as written in the books. In my opinion there is no reason someone who practices boxing and athletics wouldn’t be able to do so in their spare time, while putting their major focus on other pursuits. This might change how you decide to place skills on your character, which is fine.
Special Rules
Luck Token:
The Luck Token is a virtual coin that players may earn in various ways. By cashing it in back to the GM, you may "buy" certain things, such as having a Strike removed if in the email game, or to reroll any one dice roll in play.
The number of Luck Tokens that can be held in the GM's Luck Pool are equal to the combined number of players between the PBeM and the Tabletop game. If the GM has handed out all of the Luck Tokens from the GM's Luck Pool and needs to hand out a Luck Token, that Luck Token will be randomly taken from one of the players.
Combat
Automatic Dodge:
You may use any available Dodge bonus from Attributes, Skills or elsewhere for Automatic Dodge. All this ability does in our campaign is allow you to dodge without using an action. Add any bonus specifically for Auto-Dodge to your general Dodge bonus.
Called Shots:
When calling a shot the penalty will vary depending on the situation and target, usually a -3, but it can range from -2 to -5. I also impose a minimum roll you must get before applying bonuses. At close range on a normal shot, a 5 or above hits. At longer range this number becomes higher. These same rules apply to a called shot. A called shot only takes one attack/action by my rules. A Gunslinger, Gunfighter or someone with WP Sharpshooting gets the lower bonus as stated in the skill description, but as an extra bonus on top of your other bonuses, effectively lowering the called shot penalty.
Example: you call a shot to someone's head and roll a 10, above the 8 minimum needed to strike at medium range. Then you apply +5 to strike from skills, the weapon being used and elsewhere, a total of 15. Then apply the -3 penalty I impose, making the total now 12. You get a special +2 on called shots from Sharpshooting, which you add in now, making the grand total to strike 14.
Dodging High Speed Attacks:
Our rules for dodging high speed attacks vary quite a bit from the rules as stated in the books. Anyone may attempt to 'dodge' a high speed attack, even mundanes, not just enhanced individuals such as juicers. I also allow the defender to apply thier bonuses against the -10 penalty. I consider a dodge a combination of physical reaction and anticipating an enemy’s attack and responding accordingly. I also think it should just be easier than it would be by the books.
S.D.C. vs. M.D.C.:
The house rules for dealing with SDC damage and how it relates to Mega-Damage are a slight variation from the regular rules. In the normal rules, an SDC attack that causes 100 points of damage or more can inflict a point of Mega-Damage or more, one point for every 100 SDC inflicted, rounded down. Any SDC attacks that inflict less are considered to do NO DAMAGE to an SDC structure; even if say a thousand points are inflicted as combat continues, the MDC structure doesn't even take a scratch. The house rules that vary from this are as follows: SDC attacks that add up to the equivalent of MDC in a single melee round (15 seconds) can inflict minor Mega Damage.
For instance: Someone firing an SDC machine gun at a retrofitted tank has 4 actions. He fires at the tank and hits with all four attacks (the tank isn't really meant to dodge bullets), doing the damages of 22, 25, 33, and 21 SDC, respectively. These damages add up to 100 or more, so MD is inflicted, in this case just a single point. In another example, the machine gunner does 22, 18, 16, and 23 damage in the first melee round, which doesnt break 100. The next melee round he inflicts 80 damage, but the damage from the first melee round is wiped clean, and not added to the next melee's, so no damage is inflicted either round.
Paired Weapons:
We make a seperate strike roll for each weapon with a paired attack, even guns.
Game Mechanics
Magical Scrolls:
Although it is technically not possible by the rules as stated for more than one mage to learn a spell from a magic scroll at a time, with this rule it is possible for one mage to help another to learn it. By acting as part study partner and part physical aid, the second magician may add points to the first magician's roll. There are two limitations; the 'helper' magician must be at least level five, and both the primary and helping magician must be the same type of magician. If the 'helper' magician knows the spell to be learned already, they add half of thier chance to learn a spell (rounded down) to the percentage chance for the main studier. If the 'helper' magician does not know the spell in question, they add one fourth (rounded down) of thier percentage instead. There is a small chance for the 'helper' magician to learn the spell as well, regardless of whether the primary studier learns the spell or not. The percentage for the helper to learn the spell by chance is equal to one-tenth of thier regular percentage to learn from a scroll.
